This one is, in my opinion, fairly spoilery. Watch at your own risk! :)
Monday, 21 October 2013
Ender's Game author Orson Scott Card gave an extensive interview (of epic length) to The New Zealand Listener, where he talks about various aspects of his work, his screenwriting attempts and of course the upcoming feature film.
If you want to read the entire interview -- he is also talking politics, his controversial essays, the Mormon church, Xenocide and Children Of The Mind -- head over to the New Zealand Listener, as I will focus here on the movie part. Just one interesting tidbit. Card says: "I have an arrangement with Tor [U.S. publisher] that they will accept Aaron Johnston [Card's co-writer on the Ender's Game prequel trilogy] as the writer of any of my books. [...] I trust Aaron to know how to flesh them out."
I'll leave the following passages uncommented, which means what you want to read between the lines is entirely up to you (if anything):
Card on Mazer Rackham and the casting of Sir Ben Kingsley
If you want to read the entire interview -- he is also talking politics, his controversial essays, the Mormon church, Xenocide and Children Of The Mind -- head over to the New Zealand Listener, as I will focus here on the movie part. Just one interesting tidbit. Card says: "I have an arrangement with Tor [U.S. publisher] that they will accept Aaron Johnston [Card's co-writer on the Ender's Game prequel trilogy] as the writer of any of my books. [...] I trust Aaron to know how to flesh them out."
I'll leave the following passages uncommented, which means what you want to read between the lines is entirely up to you (if anything):
Card on Mazer Rackham and the casting of Sir Ben Kingsley
It was 30 years ago. I do know I was making a conscious effort to get rid of the old "Americans in space" attitude in sci-fi, and to make the IF and Battle School look like the world population as a whole. Since I was already locked in with the name Mazer Rackham from the short story, I sought a way to make the character non-white. New Zealand was a place where intermarriage could put an English name on a mixed-race character. Add to that a lifelong sympathy with Polynesians (although not Maoris in particular) because we had Samoan friends when I was young, and it seems a natural progression.Card on Book Elements That Have Been Cut for the Movie
Ben Kingsley is a superb actor, but in looks and build he is obviously not remotely Maori in appearance. Clearly that was not a consideration in casting, but since I was not involved in that process I can't speak for the thinking that went into that decision. I can say he gives a very good performance, and I hope Maori will forgive the ignorance or unconcern that led to this slight to the very good Maori actors who were available.
Readers who are disappointed at elements of the book that are not in the movie should keep in mind: my own scripts also cut sharply, because filming the entire novel would have taken about six hours. Huge swaths of material had to be omitted, and the movie actually includes elements from the book that I removed!Card on Ender's Game, the Film
Certainly, there is no trace of any of my scripts in the Gavin Hood script that was filmed. Hood gave the executives what they were looking for: a script that used elements of the original story within a format that followed the film-school rules that, although they don't actually work, give executives in Hollywood a warm sense of recognition.Leave your thoughts in the comments if you like.
Within those paradigms, the film Ender's Game has been shaped into a tight, fast, hard-hitting film that rockets along at a breakneck pace — the adventure version of Ender's Game. It is an excellent film of that type; it is, in fact, about as good a job of filming Ender's Game as anyone could have expected Hollywood to achieve.
Moviefone debuted a series of 10 beautiful concept art illustrations from Ender's World today. Enjoy!
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| Space between the Formic drone ships and the International Fleet |
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| Battle School is an advanced military installation that orbits Earth |
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| The near future landscape of Ender's world on Earth |
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| International Fleet shuttle and port |
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| The simulator room at Command School |
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| A view of battle formations from Ender's perspective in the Command School simulator |
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| The home of the Wiggin family on Earth |
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| Ender Wiggin's quarters at Battle School |
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| Battle Room Action |
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| A ship in the International Fleet |
Finally we get our first good look at Bonzo Madrid, played by Moises Arias. Enjoy the new high-resolution stills below, courtesy of Cosmic Book News. 
Sunday, 20 October 2013
Yesterday Crystal from EnderWiggin.net and I had the pleasure of chatting with Ender Wiggin himself Asa Butterfield as well as Ender's Game producers Bob Orci and Gigi Pritzker for an episode of EnderCast!
We didn't get to chat too long because they were all super busy at the press junket yesterday in LA, but we did get to chat with Asa about what it's like seeing his own face all over the place and the fact that he was at the movies with some "friends" of his Friday night and they didn't even get the guy an Ender's Game ICEE. ;)
Also joining us were producers Bob Orci and Gigi Pritzker and they had great things to say about their Ender's Game journey and left us with a message for fans as we countdown to the film's release.
In case you've missed some of our past episodes with Ender's Game cast and crew, you can catch up over the two weeks as we wait for NovEnder 1st!
Episode 32: Brandon Soo Hoo (Fly Molo)
Episode 31: Stunt Coordinator Garrett Warren
Episode 30: Jimmy Jax Pinchak (Peter Wiggin)
Episode 28: Suraj Partha (Alai)
Episode 26: Aramis Knight (Bean) and Khylin Rhambo (Dink Meeker)
Episode 24: Aramis Knight (Bean), Jimmy Jax Pinchak (Peter Wiggin), Suraj Partha (Alai), Cameron Gaskins (Pol Slattery), Khylin Rhambo (Dink Meeker), Brandon Soo Hoo (Fly Molo), Conor Carroll (Bernard), Caleb Thaggard (Stilson)
Episode 23: Caleb Thaggard (Stilson) and Conor Carroll (Bernard)
Don't forget to subscribe to us on iTunes so you can listen to EnderCast whenever and wherever you like.
Thanks for tuning in -- and a huge thanks to Asa Butterfield, Bob Orci, and Gigi Pritzker for coming on the show!
We didn't get to chat too long because they were all super busy at the press junket yesterday in LA, but we did get to chat with Asa about what it's like seeing his own face all over the place and the fact that he was at the movies with some "friends" of his Friday night and they didn't even get the guy an Ender's Game ICEE. ;)
Also joining us were producers Bob Orci and Gigi Pritzker and they had great things to say about their Ender's Game journey and left us with a message for fans as we countdown to the film's release.
In case you've missed some of our past episodes with Ender's Game cast and crew, you can catch up over the two weeks as we wait for NovEnder 1st!
Episode 32: Brandon Soo Hoo (Fly Molo)
Episode 31: Stunt Coordinator Garrett Warren
Episode 30: Jimmy Jax Pinchak (Peter Wiggin)
Episode 28: Suraj Partha (Alai)
Episode 26: Aramis Knight (Bean) and Khylin Rhambo (Dink Meeker)
Episode 24: Aramis Knight (Bean), Jimmy Jax Pinchak (Peter Wiggin), Suraj Partha (Alai), Cameron Gaskins (Pol Slattery), Khylin Rhambo (Dink Meeker), Brandon Soo Hoo (Fly Molo), Conor Carroll (Bernard), Caleb Thaggard (Stilson)
Episode 23: Caleb Thaggard (Stilson) and Conor Carroll (Bernard)
Don't forget to subscribe to us on iTunes so you can listen to EnderCast whenever and wherever you like.
Thanks for tuning in -- and a huge thanks to Asa Butterfield, Bob Orci, and Gigi Pritzker for coming on the show!
Saturday, 19 October 2013
Ender's Game opens in Europe this upcoming week, and in North America the week after. Time to look at the film's prospects at the box office and the success of Lionsgate/Summit's marketing strategy so close ahead of the film's release.
We have seen plenty of footage, trailers, clips and featurettes in the last couple of weeks. The film's stars, director and producers toured the U.S. and Europe extensively, promoted the film in various countries from Spain to Russia, the U.K. to Comic-Con, so we have a pretty clear picture of some key elements of the movie:
We know the story of Ender is one worth telling, its themes are universal and despite the book being almost 30 years old those themes are very relevant in today's world. Asa Butterfield seems to excel in playing the protagonist; he just looks perfect to me, as does Harrison Ford as the grouchy Colonel Graff. We have also seen enough evidence by now to conclude that the visual effects will be fantastic, the space battles mindblowing, and the set design is nothing less than brilliant. So the movie is guaranteed to be a visual treat.
At Ender News we also have a very good idea of how the footage is being received by long-time fans of Orson Scott Card's book. I would say it is 99% positive at this point and the omission of certain plot points, like Locke and Demosthenes, is widely accepted with the fans. This is supported by Flixster where Ender's Game currently has a strong 98 percent anticipation score from over 38,000 voters. But for the movie to become a box office hit it will have to reach far, far beyond the fans of the original story.
Predictions and Comparisons
The movie has an estimated production budget of $110 million before marketing, which means the movie should break the $100 million mark for U.S. domestic returns to be considered a success and possibly keep the franchise alive. This target looks very challenging two weeks before the domestic release date. At the time of writing BoxOffice.com predicts an opening weekend in the $25-30 million range; the odds at MediaPredict are currently at $39 million, but that number is down from above $60 million in August.
BoxOffice.com is comparing the current status of Ender's Game with recent Sci-Fi/Fantasy releases Pacific Rim, Oblivion, John Carter, and Tron: Legacy, which I believe is a very good approach to determine the success of the studio's marketing campaign at this point. The site notes the following comparisons:
Online, the film's early indicators are a mixed bag. Twitter activity is 51 percent behind that of Pacific Rim at the same point before release, but 45 percent ahead of John Carter. Ender's chatter also trails Tron: Legacy and The Last Airbender by significant amounts.These four films all have made similar numbers on their opening weekend to what is predicted for Ender's Game: between $30.2 million (John Carter) and $44 million (Tron: Legacy). Their total domestic gross, however, ranges much wider with John Carter ($73 million) and Oblivion ($89 million) missing the $100 million mark clearly, but with Pacific Rim returning $102 million and Tron: Legacy making $172 million.
On Facebook, the November 1 release just nabbed its 100,000th fan on Tuesday--a respectable benchmark, but still noticeably lagging behind Pacific Rim (253,783 fans) and Tron: Legacy (248,485) at the same point. Ender's Game does have the Facebook advantage over Oblivion (85,340) and John Carter (86,030), though.
This is what Ender's Game will have to do as well, generating enough buzz from moviegoers on its opening weekend to keep the numbers strong for a few weeks. Of course, that's unless all these box office predictions are completely off and the film exceeds all expectations for its first weekend just like Gravity did.
Competition
Gravity is also the biggest hope for Lionsgate/Summit as the film's setting bears certain similarities with Ender's Game and its success bucked the negative trend in the Sci-Fi genre with box office disappointments such as Oblivion, Pacific Rim, and Elysium lining up earlier this year. Maybe the audience has appetite for more spectacular zero gravity now?
The biggest obstacle the film will have to face is keeping its buzz for more than just the opening week as there will be an onslaught of Sci-Fi releases targeting a similar audience in the remaining weeks of November. Marvel's Thor: The Dark World opens just a week after Ender's Game and is predicted to make three times the money on its opening weekend. And Lionsgate's The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opens in Ender's fourth week with box office odds currently putting it in the all-time Top Five for opening weekend returns. As BoxOffice.com put it, "genre fans may end up turning Ender into a one-weekend movie unless word of mouth miraculously trumps that of its competition."
Concerns
We will get the first reviews from Germany or the U.K. in the next few days and box office returns from these markets will give us a good idea for what to expect from the U.S. launch on the November 1 weekend. But for now we have to raise the question why the current predictions are somewhat lagging the expectations for such a prestigious film with a stellar cast, crew and visual effects team.
I don't believe the Orson Scott Card debate has much to do with it. While I personally support a strong public stance against intolerance and pro-marriage equality and embracing all human beings the same way, regardless of their sexual orientation, race, gender, religion or nationality, I believe the call for boycotting this movie is very misguided. And it looks to me this is the general public opinion.
The filmmakers and all of the cast have strongly distanced themselves from Card's personal views - often in a pretty harsh way - and there is no doubt in my mind that none of the people involved in making this film support any of his positions. Neither do the book or movie's plot or themes reflect these positions in any way. So I do not believe that this controversy will have a major effect on the film's returns.
However, now I get to my real concerns: I believe that the studio's marketing campaign could have been more effective in terms of addressing the film's target audience and this is the main reason we are not looking at a solid $50 million opening weekend for Ender's Game at this time.
The studio's approach to promote the film is focused on veteran Hollywood stars Harrison Ford and Sir Ben Kingsley and on showing off the amazing visual effects action. But the film is first and foremost about the coming-of-age journey of a young boy, Ender, and quite frankly, we haven't seen enough of Ender in the trailers and clips that have been released so far, whereas Harrison Ford and his voice are all over the place. Entertainment Weekly points out that in all the trailers combined "we have heard four beats of dialogue," from "So I'm not the first?" to "In 3, 2, 1, NOW!"
The story is about Ender and his journey, his struggles, and most of the 114 minutes (total running time) will take place in Battle School where Ender will mostly interact with his fellow students. It's a movie about kids in Battle School with a stellar cast of young Hollywood talent, and unfortunately this important fact will remain widely unknown to a target audience that is not familiar with the book. Besides a few scenes with Hailee Steinfeld (Petra) and her participation in the junket, all the other key young characters haven't been promoted at all. And I think that's a mistake.
Just as a reminder: the film has Abigail Breslin co-starring as Ender's sister Valentine. She's one of the busiest top-league young actresses in Hollywood, starring in Oscar contenders like the upcoming August: Osage County, and we haven't seen anything of her in this campaign despite her huge fan base. We've also seen nothing of Moises Arias who plays Ender's antagonist Bonzo in the film. Moises has a similarly huge following as Breslin, both ranking higher than Asa Butterfield on Google Trends, and most of his fans might not even know about his participation in Ender's Game.
As for the rest of the young supporting cast -- some of them playing a major role in the original story and who will likely have plenty of screen time in the film -- actors like Aramis Knight (Bean) or Khylin Rhambo (Dink), we have seen only faint glimpses of footage, if anything at all. And while we know the character's role was cut drastically for the film, Ender's brother Peter (played by Jimmy Jax Pinchak), hasn't even been granted an official still yet, as if he wouldn't exist.
My main concern is that the most avid group of moviegoers in the U.S., teenagers and young adults age 12 to 24, could have been addressed much better by promoting the young cast beyond what has been done so far. This movie is about Ender and his fellow kids in Battle School.
Let me conclude with another quote from Entertainment Weekly: "Here's a challenge to Lionsgate: Make a wide-release Ender's Game trailer with no adults. It's a story about kids, after all."
Friday, 18 October 2013
Ender's Game opens in Europe (Germany, UK) next week already, so we are treated with plenty of new footage today. Here are selected screencaps from the Building Ender's World featurette, which was released a few hours ago.
You can browse all 30 screencaps in our Facebook album.
You can browse all 30 screencaps in our Facebook album.
You can buy Ender's Game tickets now (or a Fandango Gift Card for your friends or family)
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